Category: Castelo Branco District

Last week we stayed in Portugal for one week in the district of Castelo Branco.  We were visiting my brother-in-law who has moved to an off-grid farm in Vale de Prazeres.  Not too far from the centre of Castelo Branco is an absolute gem of a place called Penha Garcia.

If you want a holiday with a difference then I’d recommend looking at villas in Portugal and getting off the beaten track to explore some of the incredible inland landscapes.  We discovered rugged mountains, stunning wild swimming spots and old worldly Portuguese villages.

The best part about visiting parts of Portugal beyond the well-known beaches and tourist hotspots was just how quiet it was.  We had many of these places to ourselves and rarely saw another person.

Read on to learn of the historic mountain houses, rocky fossil mountains and castle of Penha Garcia with lots of our travel photos!

We have just returned from one week in Portugal to visit my brother-in-law.  He’s been living in Portugal for one year and it was the first chance we had to visit him.  Originally he bought a plot of land and lived in a caravan with a dream to set up permaculture land to live off.  It was around 10 minutes from the town of Castelo Branco. This was where we were originally going to visit when I booked the trip, but he has since moved to a much larger plot of land a little further from the centre of Castelo Branco in a village called Vale De Prazeres.

It’s still in the Castelo Branco district, but more rural.  His plot of land looks over vast amounts of countryside, goes up a mountain and he’s living off-grid with no electricity or water to the house!  Water comes from the springs on the mountain and wells and he currently has two solar panels with plans to increase the number so he can run some more appliances.  It’s an amazing place and he is just starting to develop the off-grid house into a self-sufficient abode and two other outbuildings will be turned into Airbnb residences.